A Year at the World Academy…
Chapter 7:
O.K., following that awkward date-UGH I didn't mean that, call it whatever you want, I bet you all are thinking, "Oooooohhh! So she likes Alfred?!?" or "Or maybe she likes somebody else?!?" I hate to disappoint all of you, but nothing is going to happen, I can promise you that.
Now, moving away from the topic, I called Raivis once I got back home because of the messages Toris and Eduard had left me on my room's answering machine. Neither of them were picking up when I called when I returned that evening, and Raivis was luckily available to talk.
"Hi! I'm so sorry for calling this late…," I greeted him.
"O-Oh, i-it's f-fine.," Raivis replied. "Toris and Eduard told me about the whole study party idea this afternoon. W-Where w-were you?"
"I'm SO SO SO sorry, Raivis. I had to meet up with Kiku Honda and Alfred F. Jones today-," I explained.
"So you're dating both of them?!?," Raivis' voice rose in volume for the first time…like, ever.
"NO!," I exclaimed. "You read way too many romantic novels, you know?"
"A-Anyone would a-assume the s-same thing.," Raivis said.
"Ugh, this is so off-topic.," I said, trying to pry away from discussing my social and love life. "Well, where are the four of us meeting?"
"Toris said that he'd be happy to let us come over, my room is a mess while Eduard's is full of some hich-tech stuff that he won't let any of us come within twenty-five centimeters of.," Raivis continued.
"Listen, tell them that we can meet over at my place instead, it's not as messy as you'd think. I can make room for the rest of you, too. I don't mind.," I said.
"Well, I-I'll talk to the others f-first.," Raivis replied. "Good-bye!"
"Later.," I said my farewell before hanging up the phone.
In case you're all still wondering about what's going on, Toris and Eduard decided to meet up for a last-minute cram-study-and-feast-on-instant-ramen party on Sunday before our final exams took place this coming week. Ugh, I always get so anxious and nervous about tests for literally no reason…so this was a good opportunity to cram that I must take advantage of!
So, it's best that I get some shut-eye, I've got the gay-ass ballroom dancing class…(shiver in fear and disgust)
As the weird and old dance teacher went on rambling about the tango, I looked in despair at the clock. Just when was lunch going to roll around?-
"Miss Jacqueline-!," she exclaimed.
"Yeah?," I replied.
"Your partner for today is Lovino Vargas.," she said, then went down the list with the different couples this week.
Vargas…Vargas…wasn't that Feliciano's last name? I didn't know that he had a brother until a student with a similar curl like Feliciano's (but on the opposite side) and a darker reddish-brown color for his hair approached.
"So, what are you waiting for?," he glared at me.
Boy, I could tell that I wasn't going to like this kid very much…
However, Lovino wasn't half bad at dancing, to my surprise. Once again, the teacher was amazed at the 'fluency, flow, and accuracy' of our steps. Just what the hell was this teacher seeing?!? Both of us were almost tripping over each other's feet, it was a surprise to me that we didn't fall over yet. She soon walked away from the two of us and I decided to bring up a conversation.
"So, are you Feliciano's brother?," I asked him.
"Yeah, hard to believe that I'm related to such an idiot.," Lovino replied.
"He is a bit hyper and all, isn't he?," I continued. "So I'm guessing that you two don't get along well."
"Class! Stop speeding up, dance in time with the music!," I heard the teacher yell from the other end of the dance floor.
"I guess, Feliciano and I don't really know each other well and he tends to hang out with different people than I do.," Lovino continued.
"Well, I understand, I have an annoying little brother back home, too. Drives me insane…," I replied, muttering the last three words in a softer, quieter tone.
"Ha! What's he like?," Lovino asked.
"Annoying in every way possible.," I retorted. "By the way, how did you get so good at the tango?"
"Don't ask, Antonio Carriedo taught me when we were little.," Lovino replied before the teacher screamed, "SILENCE!"
Everyone stopped the dancing and parted with their partners.
"That was a good lesson, class! Keep practicing!," the teacher dismissed us, FINALLY.
Unlike the first ballroom dancing class with Iggy as my partner, this was turning out to be an interesting way to waste some time.
Give me an L…U…N…C…H!!! What does that spell? LUNCH!!! Ah, my favorite part of the day, with the exception of the dismissal time at 2:30, 3:00 when you're in a club. I sat with the three Baltic Nations today, since most of the girls had 'prior engagements' today and God-knows-what-the-heck-they-were-doing.
"Hello!," I cheerfully said to the three of them.
"Hi!," Raivis was the first to reply for once.
"Where were you yesterday?," Toris asked.
I glared at Raivis, making him shiver, seems that he forgot to tell Toris and Eduard…lovely.
"Well-," I began.
"She was on a double-date with Kiku Honda and Alfred Jones!-," Raivis replied to Toris' question.
"LATVIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!," I screamed, scaring the crap out of all three of them. "It wasn't a date, I swear! Go ask Kiku and Alfred yourself!"
I nearly froze after I screamed at poor Raivis since the WHOLE FREAKING CAFETERIA HEARD ME. I sunk in my seat, trying to spare myself the embarrassment. Looking over to the other tables, Alfred and Kiku were doing the same thing, poor guys…I REALLY shouldn't have said that…
"I-I'm s-sorry!," Raivis said. "Y-You can b-be almost as s-scary as R-Russia when y-you're mad…"
"Oh, I'm sorry.," I apologized.
"So, let's just say that you were 'busy' yesterday-," Toris said.
"That's what she said.," Eduard commented while eating his lunch.
"Shut up.," I glared at him too. "So, if you guys don't mind, we can meet at my room this weekend if you want."
"You sure you don't mind?," Toris asked.
"Yeah, it's totally fine.," I said. "That way, neither of you three will have to clean up after the huge mess that I'll most likely make."
"We're just studying, we're not-," Eduard spoke up.
"Trust me, I have a shitload of pocky and if you've seen the amount of paperwork that I keep, it's going to be freaking chaos on Sunday.," I replied.
"O.K., gotta open these windows!," I grunted, trying to open my room's windows on Sunday, nervously trying to get my room to look decent for the guys today.
Unfortunately, my window was being an ass by not opening today. Really, out of all the days this week, it was finally sunny and whatnot and I just so happened to want to let some air in. Fate, being the cruel bitch that it is, decided to ruin this day even further when I heard about three voices outside. Also, in being the NICE, CARING, AND POLITE person I am (don't you say a word, AnonymousM), I didn't want to keep them waiting.
"Coming!," I yelled at the door, yes, I scream at inanimate objects, GOT A PROBLEM WITH IT?!?
Before running to the door, I had to quickly change into something decent, hey, I didn't want to come out in my Hello Kitty pajamas. (DON'T TELL CHINA, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T…) Nearly colliding with my closet wall, I had to dig out a green, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of DKNY jeans, and a pair of fluffy black socks (DO NOT ASK, I LOVE FLUFFY SOCKS….M'KAY?).
Opening the door, there was Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, probably my three best guy friends (HA! SEE!?! I DIDN'T SAY BOYFRIEND!) here at the World Academy.
"Hello!," I happily said, letting them in. "You can put your stuff down somewhere. The floor, that couch, that side table…or something…"
Well, for the first twenty minutes of the study/cram party, it was pretty quiet with the exception of Eduard's typing.
"Say…who here has the Global History Final first tomorrow?," I asked.
"I do, we're in the same class, remember?," Toris said.
"Oh, but yet again, we're in nearly every single class together.," I added. "…Does anyone want anything to eat?"
"What do you have?," Raivis asked.
Walking into the kitchen, I said, "Um, Chef Boyardee, Spaghetti O's, Pocky, some instant ramen, basically stuff I'll have to microwave."
"Bring over some Pocky, Japan keeps insisting us to try it.," Eduard said, pausing his typing for a moment.
I reached into the cabinet that was basically where I stash all of my Pocky and brought out a box of chocolate ones, strawberry ones, and vanilla/milk flavored ones: the three basic Pocky flavors (in my opinion).
"Well, who here likes chocolate?," I asked, opening the chocolate one first.
"I'll take one.," Raivis said, taking the small breadstick dipped in chocolate. "It's pretty good."
"I know, Pocky is, like, the BEST FOOD…EVER, in my opinion.," I replied, taking out a chocolate one too. "Anyone else?"
Eduard resumed his typing on his Mac and I couldn't help but be the nosy American I am and eavesdrop on what he was browsing. He was on Wikipedia, sigh, how typical…researching...pocky...I never knew that Wikipedia had a page for pocky! (But yet again, Wikipedia has something for, like, everything.)
"You know, Japan is always talking about this Pocky eating game that people in his country sometimes play on occasions like this.," Eduard closed his laptop, turning to the rest of us.
"Oh, yeah! I think I've heard of it…," I pondered my mind bank of anime and manga.
"Can I try it?," Toris asked.
"O.K., if my recollection serves me right, we have to take a single stick of Pocky…," I said, taking out a strawberry one, my favorite. "And…each of us has to start on either side of it and keep eating until one of us eats the most of the Pocky."
"W-Wouldn't that meant that you two w-would…," Raivis said. "…k-kiss?-"
"OMG, I totally forgot!," I said, my cheeks probably turning pink again. "Maybe I'll get Elizaveta and Roderich to do this, MWAHAHAHA-"
"Well, I still want to try, we'll just have to be careful, I guess.," Toris said. "Or maybe I could get Natalia to come-"
"NOOOOOOOOO!," Raivis begged the other Baltic nation. "S-She s-scares m-me m-more t-than R-Russia!!!"
"Please don't Toris.," Eduard added, with a rather grim face.
"She'll break your limbs again, and you know it.," I said.
"I guess…," Toris said.
"Well, let's get back to 'studying' then!," I exclaimed, bringing out my Global History textbook.
"Can we put on some music, at least?," Raivis asked me. "Who here brought their iPod?"
"I did!," I raised my hand, then stumbled towards the iHome device-thingy I had brought from home on the nightstand next to my bed.
Turning my iPod on, I immediately started blasting "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi (Once again, DON'T ASK, I've got an 'abnormal' choice in music. So, if you've got a problem, please go away.).
"Shot through the heart, and you're to blame! Darling, you give love a bad name!," I stood up and sang into my microphone/hairbrush while the three Baltic nations stared at me like I was crazy.
"No comment.," Eduard resumed his typing, this time, he was on Facebook…CRAP! (hope he didn't get any video of me singing like a moron just now…)
"What…are…you…typing?!?," I leaped to the desk where Eduard had put his laptop on.
"Nothing, just talking to Sealand.," he replied.
O.K., he actually was, but what kind of a country is Sealand?!?
"What's Sealand?," I asked.
"Oh, he's England's younger brother, but he hates him.," Toris said. "He's in the World Academy middle school somewhere else."
Glancing at Eduard's profile, nearly everyone in the school had a Facebook account: Alfred, Arthur, Kiku, Ivan, Yao, Im Yong Soo, Natalia, Ukraine, Seychelles, Vietnam, even Liechtenstein! I took out my laptop and decided to mess with Eduard for a while.
Commencing Operation: Annoy Estonia. First, I logged onto Facebook for the first time in about three months. (Yeah, not an active user, am I?) Next step: search Eduard von Bock. I found his profile and sent a friend request.
"Hm? A new friend request?," Eduard said, puzzled at who this person could be, little did he know it was me. (I didn't use my REAL name, obviously.)
I then got a notification saying: You and Eduard von Bock are now friends. Now, to join in on the chat!
Ryuusei Seiun (ME): Hi!
Eduard von Bock: Hello?
Ryuusei Seiun: Do you go to the World Academy?
Eduard von Bock: Yes.
Ryuusei Seiun: OMG, you're SO lucky! I wish I could go there!
Eduard von Bock: …Yeah…
Alfred F-ing Jones: hi edward!
Eduard von Bock: It's EDUARD, NOT EDWARD.
Alfred F-ing Jones: yea, whatev, who's ur new friend?
Eduard von Bock: I don't know.
Alfred F-ing Jones: hi!
I then motioned Raivis and Toris to come around my laptop quietly. I was on my bed, so the two of them had to go sit on either side of me (I KNOW that sounded wrong, make any innuendos you want, whatever...).
Ryuusei Seiun: Hi America!
Alfred F-ing Jones: how did u kno that i'm a country?
Ryuusei Seiun: It's so interesting to meet my country!
Alfred F-ing Jones: omg, you're american?!? :o
Ryuusei Seiun: Yep!
Alfred F-ing Jones: ur name sounds japanese, tho, let me go get kiku first!
…
Kiku Honda: Konnichiwa.
Ryuusei Seiun: Genki desu ka?
Alfred F-ing Jones: omg, u speak japanese?
Ryuusei Seiun: Not really, some Spanish, though.
Alfred F-ing Jones: i'll go get spain!
…
Antonio Fernandez Carriedo: Hola!
Ryuusei Seiun: Que tal? (sorry, my laptop doesn't come w/accents and stuff)
Antonion Fernandez Carriedo: Alfred, what the heck is going on, do I know her?!?
Alfred F-ing Jones: i thought that edward did…
Eduard von Bock: I DON'T KNOW WHO SHE IS!!! MY NAME IS EDUARD, NOT EDWARD.
Ivan Braginski: Hello, everyone! (:
Ryuusei Seiun: Hi.
Natalia Arlovskaya: Hello, my dearest Ivan.
Liechtenstein Zwingli: Hi everyone!
Vash Zwingli: HI!
Yao Wang: Ni hao!
Ludwig Beilschmidt: …
Feliciano Vargas: Ciao!
Lovino Vargas: Antonio, this is what you left me for?!? ):
Gilbert 'Prussia' Beilschmidt: YEAH, I'M AWESOME!
Im Yong Soo: Aniki! HI!
Peter 'Sealand' Kirkland: Greetings from the World Academy Middle School and from yours truly, Sealand!
...
Arthur Kirkland: WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!??!??!??!
…
Francis Bonnefoy: Bonjour!
Seychelles: Hi Francis!
Eduard von Bock: WHY IS EVERYONE JOINING THIS CHAT?!?! AND WHO THE HECK IS 'RYUUSEI SEIUN,' if there is such a person?!?!
Ryuusei Seiun: Eduard, look to your right.
Eduard turned toward a laughing Latvia and Lithuania (and me, of course) staring at my laptop.
"YOU'RE Ryuusei Seiun?!?," Eduard screamed.
Eduard von Bock: 'Ryuusei Seiun' is Jackie, everyone…(-.-)'
Alfred F-ing Jones: orly?!? jackie! u nearly scared everybody…
Feliciano Vargas: Ve?~
Lovino Vargas: Damn it, Jackie, use your real name.
Ryuusei Seiun: Sorry, I don't feel comfortable giving away my real name…
Vash Zwingli: WTF
Arthur Kirkland: Seriously, what the hell was going on?!? Estonia, if you didn't know who she was, why did you add her as a friend?
Eduard von Bock: Anyone can be friends on Facebook, England. If we were more like you, we'd all only have, like, 30 friends.
Ryuusei Seiun: I don't befriend just anybody too, so excuse me if I'm really choosy with who I'm friends with online. Bye.
Turning off my laptop, I dug into my history textbook again while I let my iHome thing play my Vocaloid playlist. Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania all resumed the awkward silence that we originally were stuck with. After about an hour or so, we were all sick of staring at our textbooks.
So, breaking the silence, I asked, "So…what's going on online, Eduard?"
"Log onto Facebook.," he replied.
When I logged in again, I had almost fifty friend requests: Alfred F-ing Jones, Kiku Honda, Arthur Kirkland, Liechtenstein, Vietnam, Yao Wang, Im Yong Soo, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, Feliciano Vargas, Lovino Vargas, Ludwig Beilschmidt, Gilbert Beilschmidt, Heracles Karpusi, Sadiq Adnan (A.K.A. Turkey), Elizaveta Hedervary, Roderich Edelstein, and pretty much everyone else I knew at the World Academy. It took about five minutes to accept all of their requests, since I didn't want to be rude, I mean, just because you're friends with someone online doesn't mean that you're necessarily the best of friends in real life.
(A/N: It is unconfirmed of Liechtenstein's human name or if she takes her brother's last name, Zwingli, same thing goes for Ludwig's last name.)
"There's this intensifying conversation between Seychelles and France, too…," Eduard said, continuing his typing.
"I have to see this…," I said, logging back into the website that I personally thought was absolutely fucking retarded.
Seychelles: Francis?...
Francis Bonnefoy: Oui?...
"Goddamn it, Seychelles, tell him already!!!," I screamed at the laptop and Latvia started shivering like hell again.
"Just who are you talking to, Jackie?," Toris asked me.
"Um…my laptop?...," I replied, totally embarrassed.
"No comment…," Estonia added, returning to the affairs of his own laptop.
Sighing, my eyes widened at the text that appeared on the chat box:
Francis Bonnefoy: Je t'aime, Seychelles.
WAS I FUCKING DREAMING?!? (FYI: What Francis just posted literally translated to "I love you, Seychelles." in English.) Seems that relationships here at the World Academy come and go pretty fast…I mean, these people represent countries and if you know your history pretty well, unions between two countries don't last too long…(*cough* Austria-Hungary *cough*)
"What the…?!?," Eduard looked at his laptop's screen in shock. "After all the drama from last year? I can't believe it…"
"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!," I jumped for joy on my bed like a maniac, scaring poor Raivis again…whoops.
After my huge drama with whatever happened online, I calmed down a bit. (when I mean a bit, it means that I've gone from screaming maniac to randomly laughing idiot) Unfortunately, I think my unstable mental condition at the time scared off Raivis and Eduard. They both claimed to have had to meet up with someone else: Raivis said he had to go see Sealand and Eduard was supposed to have gone and seen Finland, or was it Sweden? Whatever…that left me and Toris staring at our textbooks in silence for a while.
"So…hey, I haven't been able to talk to you for a while…so how's life?," I nervously asked Toris, I obviously lacked experience in starting a conversation.
"N-Nothing much, really…," he said, still concentrating on the textbook he was holding.
"I've heard that you like Natalia from quite a lot of people, ever think of getting a second date with her?," I asked.
"Why do you ask?," Toris replied.
"Hmmm…I don't know…I just think you two look cute together.," I thought up of a lie, or just something to say. "Back in New York, I would be months behind school gossip that basically 97% of the school knew already, so I might as well have a fresh start here and have a decent social life."
"You really think so?...," Toris asked.
"Sure, Ivan doesn't seem to like her more than a sister…and no one is stopping you…what do you have to lose? (besides your limbs…)," I said. "After the finals this week, I'll come with you to ask her, if you want."
"Hm…that could possibly work.," Toris said. "I guess I could try-"
"That's the spirit! Don't give up on her!," I cheerfully gave a mini-pep talk, then changed the subject. "Hey, want anymore pocky?"
I held out a box near my books.
"Um, O.K.," he hesitantly took out one.
"You know, I almost got a couple of friends and I to play that pocky game once…I didn't succeed, but the results were hilarious.," I said, taking one for myself.
"You want to try?," Toris asked.
"Um, it'd be a bit awkward-," I replied.
"We don't have to-"
"It's fine, here.," I took out another stick of pocky, smiling. "Perfect practice for when you're with Natalia, no?"
He hesitated a little, but whatever.
"Note that I consume about a pack of pocky everyday, so I won't go easy on you.," I grinned, trying to speak clearly with the stick of pocky in my mouth. "Ready?...Go!"
Turns out, this game is a lot harder than how the anime I watched depicted it. About three times, the thing was about to fall out, which was really a pain in the neck, literally. After five minutes of struggling to keep the thing from falling, I decided to just pick up the pace and started chomping the pocky. Before I knew it, I had almost eaten half of it and we were-
"Shi-!," I almost cursed as the pocky broke a split second before…you know…
After a moment of awkward silence, I said, "So, Friday after the English final, I'll see you?"
"Yeah, later.," Toris then gathered the textbooks and stuff he brought over and left.
I sighed, "Phew! That was close!"
Ugh, I could've sworn that it was like, 97 degrees (Fahrenheit) in all of the classrooms during the finals. I don't want to bore you of the details of bubbling in a circle with a mechanical pencil for two hours, so let's skip to…Friday! (TGIF!)
Thanks to the finals, ballroom dancing class was cancelled. Unfortunately, the traffic after the last final was given was absolutely horrible! I found myself completely squished in between the students that continued to shove me out of their way. In fact, as I approached the last stairway, some jerk behind me pushed me and as hilarious as it may sound, but it was not fun falling face-first down a set of stairs.
"Jerk! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!?," I yelled, trying to getting up, my back feeling sore from the fall.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!," I heard rapid footsteps coming my way and what sounded like "~aru" at the end of that sentence.
A hand was stretched out toward me, it was China.
"Wha-?!? Oh, I'm sorry I yelled at you!," I said, taking his hand, finally able to stand on two feet.
"It should be me who should be sorry. (~aru)," he said.
"It's O.K., I have to get going.," I said, starting to run towards the exit to find Toris.
"Are you sure you're O.K.?!? (~aru)," China asked.
"Hell, yeah! I feel fine!," I yelled back, dashing through the doors.
I found Toris, alone, in the front courtyard.
"What happened!?!," I panted, air running low.
"She said yes!," Toris said, but I noticed that he was limping a little on his right leg.
"Hm, let me guess: she kicked you in the shin before you persuaded her-," I said.
"Yep, it was painful, but I'd take a thousand kicks in the shin for her.," Toris replied, shyly smiling.
"Well, let's get going, get your leg moving and maybe it won't hurt as much later.," I suggested.
To be continued